A Shift of Fates
by R.L.Keeper
Summary: Another missing mammal case. That's how it started, now they have a very confused bunny, a suspicious research facility and a hints of a plot to end Zootopia as they know it, before it even began.
1. MISSFIRE

**A Shift of Fates**

 **Chapter One**

 _MISSFIRE_

* * *

Astrid groaned, she hurt in places she hadn't known she could hurt as well as some places she was certain shouldn't be hurting half as much as they were. Namely her pounding head, throbbing, and worryingly wet, leg as well as a sharp pain coming from her right side.

Gingerly pushing herself into a sitting position Astrid ran a fluffy white paw over her face as she tried to remember what had happened to her to cause so much pain. Wait. Blue eyes snapped open to stare down at what should have been her hand, but was now, perplexingly, a fuzzy white _paw_. Looking the rest of her over, Astrid discovered that she was covered in short, soft brown and white fur under her clothes. Oddly she was sans cowboy boots, though in her confused and pain hazed mind Astrid had a feeling she would have looked a little silly with boots over her rather long fuzzy feet. Clown-like even.

It was quite dark wherever she was, Astrid figured it for a warehouse of some kind, mainly for the size and very empty space around her. Glancing down at her obviously bleeding leg and at out through the darkened area around her Astrid pulled off her mostly ruined blue flannel shirt and tore one of the arms off it at the shoulder, discarding the rest. She winced a little as she tied the sleeve around her leg, whatever was wrong with her side, it didn't feel good and leaning over to deal with her leg was only making it worse she was certain.

Once content that her leg was secure, and Astrid had quietly thanked her brother Leo for dragging her to those First Aid classes, the confused young woman awkwardly clambered to her too-long fuzzy brown feet. She stumbled a little, not used to, well, _anything_ about her current predicament and the fact that she now had fur was just adding to the pile of impossible she was now dealing with. She would have thought it was all a dream if it weren't for the pain. No. Definitely not a dream Astrid decided with a grimace as she tripped and stumbled on unfamiliar feet, jarring her already aching body.

It was time to find help. As long as she could make it to the exit without impaling herself on her too-long feet.

* * *

It was safe to say Nick was decidedly not having a good day. Not that it had started out bad, no, it had started out looking quite good. The sun had been shining, he had made it to the precinct on time and the Chief had handed him, and his partner, Judy, a decent case to work on. Of course, it was the case that had turned his reasonably nice day into the what was possibly headed toward train-wreck sized badness. He could be wrong, of course, he'd been wrong before.

The case in question was that of a missing mammal (apparently their specialty now), a bunny in fact, which had naturally caught Carrots' heartstrings in a tight grip and added even more drive to his already deeply driven partner. Of course the missing bunny wasn't just any bunny, things were rarely that simple. No. _This_ bunny was a daughter of one of Zootopia's leading Astrophysicist's, who was, naturally, very concerned as the daughter in question wasn't one to wander off or not stay in contact. At least that was what Miss O'Field's case file had indicated. The bunny had been missing for two weeks now, with few leads. Never a good sign.

The pair were planning to talk to the father later, after his classes were over for the day. So Nick and Judy had followed the missing bunny's trail to a research facility, one whose staff had been less than willing to answer any questions and had downright denied seeing O'Field on the premises even after Judy had waved the CCT still they had of the bunny entering the building.

Admittedly Nick had been more than willing to hold off any more investigating until they'd talked to Dr. O'Field, but Judy had stubbornly refused to drive over to the University on a hunch that whoever's fur they had just ruffled would lead them to their missing bunny. Nick had doubted it would be that easy, at least until two large black cars with tinted windows pulled out of the buildings underground carpark. Even he'd admitted that was suspicious, and so off they'd gone, following the cars to the warehouse district in Savanah Central's harbour. Which was even more suspicious than the cars alone had been, Nick had been a con-man long enough to know exactly what kinds of shady stuff happened at the harbour, and he'd been Carrots' partner long enough to know that her getting out of their cruiser to follow the shifty looking guys that had exited the big black cars was a very bad idea. Of course he also knew he would have to follow Judy, if only to keep her from getting herself killed. As usual, he pointedly ignored the fact that she had saved his tail plenty of times during their search for Mr. Otterton and the Night Howler incident.

So now, as he jogged through the all-too-quiet alleys between the various warehouses, berating himself for losing sight of his energetic and determined partner the whole time, Nick wondered just how bad this day would turn out. Judy had vanished, he could have passed the warehouse she'd likely vanished into by now and he would never know which one. Carrots could have at least left him a sign instead of charging in head first.

The late afternoon sun was casting long shadows across the narrow alley Nick had found himself in, he'd just turned a corner when a side door opened and the startled fox barely managed to scramble out of sight before a small form stumbled out of the door and collapsed on the ground with a quiet cry of pain. Ears up, and alert Nick shifted trying to get a better look, hoping the small bunny sized form on the ground was not that of his partner. Green eyes widened a little when the scent of coppery blood hit his nose, and Nick was out from behind the corner and moving toward the injured bunny before he could consider how stupid he was being. He blamed Judy. She was making him soft.

When Nick crouched down next to the injured bunny he was pinned in place with blue eyes, confused, scared and tired, but alert enough to be wary of strangers. Nick instantly wished Judy were there instead of him, bunnies and foxes weren't exactly known to have many warm-fuzzies for each other. Too much blood, bad or otherwise, he supposed.

"Hey, uh, don't worry miss, you're going to be just fine," he started awkwardly. He wasn't sure if his attempt at a comforting smile was working from the way she was staring at him. "I'm Officer Wilde, ZPD, and I'm here to help you," he tried again. He got a blink for his trouble, but any other response from the bunny – who he was reasonably certain was the missing O'Field- was cut off as a loud bang echoed out from the warehouse the bunny had all but fallen out of. Two sets of eyes snapped to the darkened doorway, though one set immediately winced and the bunny tried desperately to muffle another cry of pain.

* * *

Astrid watched through squinty eyes as the talking animal, who had introduced himself as 'Officer Wild', which she thought was a red fox wearing a police uniform, of all things, leapt to his feet and quietly shut the door she'd stumbled though carefully. This couldn't be real, he even had the massive fluffy tail, but Astrid was certain that this could. Not. Be. Happening. Animals didn't talk. Or wear clothing. Or have actual jobs. Never mind the fact that Astrid was now apparently smaller than a fox and covered with brown and white fur herself. The fox, 'Officer Wild', knelt back down beside her, paw on her now tiny shoulder.

"Can you walk?" he asked her quietly. Astrid glanced at her leg, and the arm she had around her middle tightened.

"I think so," she answered quietly. The fox helped her up gently, keeping her steady on her feet as he led her down the skinny alleyway he'd appeared from. They were halfway through when 'Officer Wild' picked up his pace a little and pulled her around the corner into what she supposed was at least one of the main 'streets' through the warehouses. He was sticking close to the shadows the afternoon sun was throwing around, his arm around her middle, keeping her next to him.

She could see what looked to be his 'cruiser' across the street from the warehouse exit, they were almost there.

* * *

His stomach lurched uncomfortably the moment it happened, his paw knocked against something sticking out of the poor bunny's lower back. Until that moment Nick had been under the impression that her leg, wrapped in what looked to be the remains of a flannel shirt, was the worst of her injuries. He had been wrong. He should have asked her about her injuries. Judy would have, he was sure. Judy would have asked a whole plethora of questions, made sure the victim was okay before moving her. Dumb Fox.

It was her sharp cry of pain that alerted the wolves already following them that they were close, and Nick was pretty sure he swore like a sailor in the nearby harbour as he picked up the more-injured-than-he-thought bunny and started hightailing it to the cruiser. Blessedly where he could see Carrots waiting for him. The wolves stopped at the entrance to the warehouses, watching him silently as he approached Judy with a bundle of bleeding, semi-conscious bunny in his arms. Any other time he would have wondered why they weren't howling already, he _was_ a little busy being an idiot though.

"Where did you disappear to? And _who_ is that?" she asked taking a few steps forward. Nick didn't stop moving making a bee-line for the passenger side door.

"I didn't 'disappear', Carrots, you did, and _this_ , is our missing bunny," the 'I think' went unsaid. If Judy heard it, she didn't say anything, just got in the drivers seat and looked at him for direction. "Hospital, and step on it, I think I just made her worse," he told her with a slightly guilty look. Judy looked from Nick, to the silent, shaking bunny in his arms and started the engine, hitting the siren before taking off towards the nearest Hospital.

Zootopia Memorial.

* * *

 **AN: I don't know, it needed to come out.**

 **The world needs more Zootopia. (shrugs)**


	2. Who? What? Where? When?

**A Shift of Fates**

 **Chapter Two**

 _WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN?_

* * *

It was loud. Loud and smelled like a hospital. Was she in a hospital? What happened? Another accident? Oh god, please let everyone be okay.

These were Astrid's first thoughts on her arrival back into consciousness. The moment she opened her eyes to find a _panda_ in a nurses outfit tending to the beeping machines next to her, she remembered everything.

Gunfire, explosions, fear, pain...and a bright blue light pulling her down...And then the fox, trying to help, carrying her away and...a rabbit driving a car? Everything after the blue light was hazy, true, but as Astrid looked at her very much real fuzzy white paws, she knew her memory of those events was, in fact, correct.

"Hun? You okay?" asked the panda-nurse gently. A large paw was resting on her arm in comfort and concern in her brown eyes made Astrid realise she was on the verge of hyperventilating from the sudden stream of traumatic memories that had slammed into her. Astrid didn't even remember sitting up, but when the tears started she didn't even try to stop them, letting her terror and pain out the only way she could.

She didn't notice the bunny in blue enter her room, carrying a cup of coffee and looking concerned as she hurried to Astrid's bedside. She did, however, hear the sound of the paper cup being placed on the small bedside table next to her. Turning Astrid found the rabbit she vaguely remembered from the police cruiser sitting on the seat next to her bed, amethyst eyes wide with worry.

"It's okay, I'll sit with her a while," the bunny smiled at the panda-nurse, who nodded and moved to go before turning back with a stern look.

"Keep the questions to a minimum, the doctor needs to have a look at her before you and your partner start on the poor thing. She's been through enough," despite the warning tone the bunny's smile didn't budge an inch.

"Don't worry, Nurse Bambashoo, Nick and I are perfectly capable of waiting for the all clear from Miss O'Field's doctor before questioning her," the bunny assured Nurse Bambashoo. With another nod the nurse was off, probably to finish her rounds. Though this exchange Astrid had slowly gotten a hold on herself, and while she was sore and tired and wanted desperately wanted to go back to sleep, something was bothering her.

"Miss O'Field?" the bunny called to her softly. That was it. The name. It wasn't hers. Looking at the bunny beside her Astrid wasn't sure what to do, clearly everyone thought she was someone else. Something she would have to rectify as soon as possible, how to break that bag of cats to these people, that was her first dilemma. Her second was finding out where she was, and how she got there. Astrid wasn't even going to try to figure out how she managed to grow fur after the blue light dragged her down. "Miss O'Field, I'm Officer Judy Hopps, ZPD, my partner Nick Wild, he was the one who found you in the warehouse," the bunny said slowly. Astrid frowned, but nodded slowly, uncertain how this was going to go now.

"I'm not," she stated clearly. Better to just get it over with after all.

* * *

Nick glowered at the coffee machine as it finally spurted what passed for coffee in this place into his small paper cup. Was it too much to ask to catch a break? He'd already had to head back to his apartment to shower and change out of his blood covered uniform. It had only been once he'd gotten home and caught sight of himself that he realised how much blood that poor bunny had lost as she'd sat curled up against him in the cruiser. He was just glad they'd made it to the hospital in time, that he'd found her before those wolves had. The fact that they _hadn't_ howled was still niggling at his brain, and would be something he was going to have a closer look into once he had the chance. For now, his brain was busy. He dubiously eyed the coffee as he walked down the hospital hallway, the O'Field Case File tucked under his arm so they could review and update it as needed. He also needed something to do while they waited.

The doctors had told them that O'Field probably wouldn't be awake any time soon, but considering their suspicions that someone else was after the bunny the pair had decided to hunker down and stick close to their victim. Naturally they'd called in their status to Clawhauser at dispatch to let Dr. O'Field know they'd found his daughter as soon as they'd arrived at the hospital. The relieved father would be at the hospital any time now, and Nick figured he and Judy would give the guy some time with his daughter before they went over the timeline leading up to her disappearance as her he knew it. They wouldn't know anything else until the bunny woke up after all, might as well cover all their bases and tick all the boxes even after the fact that they'd found the missing bunny. Nick did wonder if it had been, perhaps, a little too easy. Missing Mammal cases were supposed to be hard to crack, after all.

Frowning to himself as he headed back to the bunny's room, Nick took an automatic sip of his hospital-coffee and almost choked as he forced himself to swallow down the swill they were passing for caffeine. _Disgusting._

Grumbling to himself he tossed the remaining fraudulent coffee impersonator in the nearest trashcan and kept moving, it really was not his day. He was about to step into the small private room when his sharp hearing caught Carrots talking to someone inside;

"-was the one who found you in the warehouse," Judy was speaking slowly. Carefully. And though he was dubious, Nick curiously poked his head through the door in time to see the small, brown and white bunny frown minutely. He'd though she was an odd looking bunny when he'd seen her photo, in person, well, she made a little more sense. He had no idea how, of course, between the pink tuft of long fur she had messily cultivated on her head, pink ear-tips, and the three earrings in each her long ears, Astrid O'Field was-

"I'm not," and didn't _those_ words bring his thought processes to a screeching halt. From the confused look on Carrots' face he wasn't the only one having trouble understanding that statement.

"You're not what?" Judy asked for clarification. Her ears had dropped down behind her as soon as the bunny they'd assumed was Astrid O'Field had spoken.

"O'Field, that's not my name," Not-O'Field ran her paws over her face as she spoke. She sounded uncomfortable, like she didn't want to make things complicated. She also looked like she wanted to pass back out again, the fact that she was awake at all should have been seen as a miracle.

"Wait, you aren't Astrid O'Field?" Nick understood Judy's disbelief. The bunny before them looked exactly like the photo of O'Field in their case file.

"Yes, I mean, no, I mean-" the bunny sighed and hung her head. "My name is Astrid, yes, but my family name is O' _Neill_ , not O'Field," she explained awkwardly. She was fiddling with the sheet, not meeting Judy's eyes when Nick entered the room properly.

"Okay, so the fact that you look _exactly_ like Astrid O'Field is just a coincidence?" he asked sceptically. Uncertain blue eyes met his again, somehow pinning him in place just as they had back in the alley behind the warehouse.

"Nick," Judy warned him sternly. The fox ignored her, instead opening the file and pulling out the photo of their missing bunny as he strode over to the pair.

"Because you do look _exactly_ like her," he said pointedly as he handed over the photo. The confused bunny stared at the photo for a moment, little pink nose twitching ever-so-slightly as she studied the subject depicted. Admittedly, Nick wasn't sure what he was expecting, but the reaction he got, wasn't even on the list.

"What are you talking about? This doesn't look _anything_ like me, I mean, I'm not a-" Astrid stopped midsentence and stared at her other paw not holding the photo. Her eyes flitted backward and forward between the photo and her paw rapidly as her breathing steadily increased. Nick watched curiously as the bunny closed her eyes and slowly calmed her breathing back down before she opened her eyes again, staring at the wall opposite her bed for a long moment with a small frown. It took Nick a minute to realise she was listening, her ears were up, twitching at every little sound. An odd thing to do right in the middle of such an important conversation.

"Look, obviously this is all just some kind of crazy misunderstanding I'm sure-" Judy began.

"Look, Astrid, I can call you Astrid, right?" Nick interrupted as he moved to sit on the seat beside her. Astrid turned her head slowly to look at him, her small frown back in place, she did however nod minutely so Nick continued before Judy could stop him. "Thing is, Dr. O'Field is going to be arriving here any moment, expecting to see his missing daughter. Apparently you aren't her, and that's just fine, but we've already called it in that Astrid O'Field has been found. Instead we found _you_ , who looks _exactly_ like our missing mammal and share very similar names. Now, either this is actually one big coincidence, and we'll all have a big laugh about it later, or, and this is the more likely scenario, someone doesn't want us to find the _real_ Astrid O'Field and you're either in on it, or just another victim just like she is," Nick gave her a long look after his trademark fast-talking was over. Just waiting to see what she did.

Astrid stared at Nick for a long moment, and Nick could practically feel Judy's irritation with him for railroading her, but he had a feeling about this bunny. She was odd. Like Judy was odd. Blue eyes blinked at him, and then flitted about the room. She was thinking hard.

"Hold on, rewind," she said holding up a paw. Her eyes back on him. "You said Dr. O'Field?" Nick had to wonder why _that_ had been the thing to pull her attention first.

"Dr. O'Field is the father of our missing bunny, Nick and I were assigned her case early this morning," Judy explained patiently.

"What kind of Doctor are we talking here?" Astrid asked curiously. She had the most peculiar look on her face, and Nick was getting worried, they were way off topic now and he'd lost control of the conversation. Odd bunnies. They were the bane of his existence.

"Oh, well, Dr. O'Field is one of Zootopia's leading As-"

"Astrophysicists," Astrid finished with a look of wonder. Judy looked at Nick in bewilderment as a small smile slowly made it's way across Astrid's face. "Her mother doesn't happen to be a travel writer, does she?" she asked after a moment. Nick frowned and opened his case file, glancing down the list of facts known about the victim. There is was, Mrs Chris O'Field, noted Travel Writer, currently abroad- location unknown. _Suspicious._

Looking up at the waiting Astrid, he couldn't help but wonder if she'd been hired to impersonate O'Field and it had just gone horribly wrong, or more worryingly, it had gone horribly right. Wait. No. She had denied being O'Field. So what the hell was going on?

"How did you-?"

"Because, that's what _my_ parents do," she told them with a bemused and slightly bewildered smile.

"Wait, what?" Judy cut in.

"Doesn't matter, you, Red, hand that over," she said quickly. She held her hand out for the case file, looking at him expectantly.

"Yeah, like I'm going to just hand over a classified police file because you _asked_ ," he told her with obvious sarcasm. He didn't like the way her smile got that sly tilt to it, it was the same one Judy got sometimes and it rarely meant good things were in his future.

"Oh, I see, well then I guess I'm just going to have to keep telling _everyone_ that I'm not Astrid O'Field, and _you_ saved the wrong bunny," she made an awkward face. "Or, I don't know, you could give me that file, and I can cover for you while you try to find the _other_ 'me'," she used air quotes when she reached the word 'me' for effect. Nick wasn't sure what the world was coming to, when did bunnies suddenly get so good at verbally twisting his arm.

"Hold on, just one minute," Judy intervened to Nick's relief. She would sort this out, because he was _way_ off his game. "Why do you want to see the file?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because I want to see if the similarities just end with our names and parents jobs, or if it goes further than that, and if it does well..." Astrid's grimace said it all. Apparently that was all it took for Judy to take the case file from Nick and pull out her note pad and recording carrot pen.

"Okay, but you write down all similarities and differences between the two of you, _and_ give them to us, as _well_ as covering for us," Judy bargained holding the items just out of reach of the bedridden bunny.

"Deal,"

* * *

 **AN: Have some more random from me.**

 **Just before someone decides to mention it, the spelling mistakes in Nick and Judy's last names in Astrid's sections _are_ on purpose. **

**Slightly longer chapter is slightly longer.**

 **I do feel a little sorry for Nick, now he has two bunnies capable of verbally kicking his ass in his life, don't worry, he'll get his mojo back soon. Pretty sure he just needs a minute or five to catch his breath.**

 **Till next time.**

 **RLK**


	3. The Story

**A Shift of Fates**

 **Chapter Three**

 _THE STORY_

* * *

When Dr. Malcom O'Field entered his daughters hospital room he _expected_ to find Astrid laying prone in her bed, unconscious with a police detail outside to protect her as he'd been assured there would be. What he _actually_ found was what, in hindsight, he actually should have been expecting, at least to an extent. The sight of his eldest daughter sitting upright in bed, very much awake, and searching through the contents of what was likely her own missing mammal file, while making notes in a notebook, was a familiar one. Astrid had never liked sitting on her hands for long, so her sitting in a hospital bed with nothing to do for any length of time was probably going to end up with _something_ on fire or something similar. The part of this scene that was _not_ familiar, however, was the sight of the two officers supposed to be protecting his daughter, sitting on the bed beside her as they talked animatedly.

Now Mal considered himself a reasonable mammal, not the type to fall in with societal expectations on certain species, but as a bunny, well, Mal had never quite entirely kicked his instinctual distrust of foxes. He wasn't proud of that, nor, was he proud of the deep-seated discomfort he felt seeing that fox sitting next to his injured daughter, on her _bed_.

"No-no, you don't get it," Astrid was saying with an odd grin on her face. "Yes, there are some discrepancies with certain details, some names are different, places, but the overall story, _that's_ the part that's interesting," she explained as she studied what Mal presumed was a photo.

"The story?" the female bunny asked as she peered at the photo Astrid held. Deciding it would be rude of him not to call their attention to his arrival Mal cleared his throat loudly. All three of them jumped and stared at him as though they'd been caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar. Astrid's blue eyes were wide as she beamed at him and that tightly coiled feeling of parental worry he'd been carrying around for weeks suddenly went slack. She was fine.

"Dad! You're here! 'Bout time, old man," she teased him good naturedly. Mal chuckled, his daughter would only ever be herself, after all.

"I got held up at work," he explained as he moved further into the sterile smelling room. Both officers slid off his daughters bed, moving away a little to give his some space with his daughter.

"Well, obviously, who was it this time? No-wait-let me guess," she grinned at him. "Was it Drew? The one who drools when you talk about your theories on black holes and white holes?" Mal sighed. He regretted allowing her to audit his classes when the mood took her. She always managed to remember enough about them so she could tease him later.

"No, _Star-Shine_ , it wasn't Drew Sanderson," he told her patiently. She would have likely rattled off a dozen more names if he let her, so, hoping to save some time Mal raised a paw to silence her. "Your brother, Leo, called me at the office. I don't know how he got wind of your rescue, but he'll likely be along shortly, as soon as he can get away from Mara and the kids. And don't doubt for a hot minute the rest of your siblings aren't going to converge on you the moment they know you're here," he warned her. Her momentary look of horror was enough to make him chuckle. She should be counting her blessings that her parents jobs left them little time for child rearing, as such she only had a measly one hundred and three siblings. Of which, Astrid was number three.

"Right, speaking of my rescue," Astrid changed the subject as she recovered from the thought of all her siblings in the same small hospital room. She motioned to the pair of police officers waiting near the end of her bed. "Dad, this is Officer Nick Wilde, and his partner Judy Hopps, they're the ones who found me," she told him with a warm smile at them both. "Well, it was mostly Nick, but Judy drove the cruiser here, and she's real nice," Mal raised a brow at his daughter. The fox had saved her? Well, that changed things. Turning to the odd pair, Mal smiled at them appreciatively and strode over.

"In that case, thank you both for bringing my little girl home," he shook both their paws gratefully. Naturally, his phone started ringing before he could say anything else.

"Leo blabbed to David and he, of course, told _everyone_ else," Astrid predicted. Mal gave her a reproachful look as he pulled out the damnable device, he did not comment on the fact that she was probably right. And said nothing when he saw that it was, as Astrid had said, David calling him.

"I'll be right back," he told them and walked out of the room to answer the phone.

* * *

Judy turned to Astrid as she watched the bunny version of her father vacate the room in amusement, the other bunny looked completely baffled.

" _How_ did you do that?" the other bunny asked. Astrid shrugged her shoulders and glanced back at the door, if the bunny-David was anything like her own, then Mal was going to be a while.

"I just acted like he was my dad," she explained simply.

"Right, okay, because _that_ makes sense," Astrid rolled her eyes at Nick's quiet sarcasm.

"I _told_ you, the _story_ is the same, just a few details, like family names and places, are different," she shook her head at the sceptical fox.

"Yeah, I'm going to need more than that to go on," Nick told her flatly. Astrid just groaned and looked at the ceiling, she was sure he was just being irritating and slow on purpose. With a decisive nod to herself Astrid began gathering the parts of the file she'd strewn around her bed covers and put them back in the case file.

"First things first, you two need to head to her apartment, I need more data than what's in here," she thrust the file at Nick as she spoke.

"Why her apartment? It's already been looked at," Judy asked with a small frown.

"Because that's where her story started, I hope," Astrid told them with a sigh. She leaned back against her pillow, suddenly feeling exhausted, and she'd have to deal with bunny-Leo at some point soon too. Great. Normal Leo was bad enough.

"And you know that _how_?" Astrid was spared having to answer that question by a gasp by Judy.

"Because the stories are the _same_ , and that's where _yours_ started," the excited bunny concluded. Nick's eyes went wide as he stared at Astrid with bright green eyes.

"So you know what actually happened to her?" he asked curiously.

"I _might_ ," Astrid admitted. "Which is why I need you to check her place out, her home computer specifically, and bring one of her laptops back, I'll need it," she explained with a tight smile.

"She has _more_ than one laptop?" his raised eyebrow made Astrid grin.

"Duh," was the only response Nick got.

* * *

 **AN: Short chapter is short. Sorry.**

 **The next chapter should have some funnies in it, like Astrid meeting with her bunny!siblings and Nick and Judy poking around the missing Astrid's apartment...**

 **Let me know what you guys think!**

 **RLK**


	4. Her Beginning

**A Shift of Fates**

 **Chapter Four**

 _Her Beginning_

* * *

"So," Judy said as she glanced over at Nick slyly. Nick frowned, that 'so' had some weight to it.

"So what?" he asked suspiciously.

"Astrid," she prompted.

"What about her?" Nick slid his new favourite sunglasses over his eyes to protect them from the early morning sun. They'd decided to wait until morning to go to Astrid O'Field's apartment, fresh minds and all that. The pair were headed there now, decent coffee in hand.

"You like her," the teasing accusation made him scoff.

"I do? Well gosh Carrots, and here I thought we had something really special going here," he teased her right back. Judy just rolled her eyes at him, a small smile on her face as she pulled into the front of the apartment building.

"Whatever you say Nick," she told him lightly as she climbed out. With a shake of his head Nick headed out after her, he was just going to pretend that didn't happen. It was just asking for trouble, and trouble found him plenty on it's own without any help from him. So off he went, strolling into the apartment building after Judy to find the landlord, who would hopefully let them into Astrid O'Field's apartment.

They got lucky, the landlord, a good natured, if talkative, badger, was happy to let them into the O'Field apartment, wishing them luck cracking the case. Obviously he hadn't yet heard that they already had, sort of. So there they were, standing in the doorway of one of the messiest apartments Nick had ever been in.

"Are we in the right place?" he asked as they very carefully walked passed a tower of pizza boxes.

"Pretty sure," Judy replied. One look at her and Nick was trying not to laugh, her nose was wrinkled in disgust as she looked around the dark living space. "It''s a pretty big place, for just her, I mean," Nick was inclined to agree. This looked more like a small family home than an apartment for a single female bunny. As they walked further into the room the mess suddenly stopped, it seemed that the area around her home computer was kept clear and reasonably tidy.

"That's a lot of computer gear, what does she do again?" Nick asked as he walked over to get a better look as the huge desk in the middle of the room.

"Uh," Judy opened the case-file and peered at Astrid's details. "Freelance Internet security adviser, I think, there's a whole list here, but that seems to be the main one," she didn't look very certain as she looked over at Nick.

"Okay then, she wanted us to check out the computer, right? So why don't you do that, and I'll look around," Nick suggested.

"You mean, you want me to do all the work while you snoop around," Judy folded her arms and cocked a hip at him.

"Isn't that what I said?" he asked with a shrug. As soon as he saw her eyes roll at him he turned away and started wandering around the room while Judy moved to start up the computer.

"Pretty much," was the retort from the large computer chair that dwarfed Judy. Content that he had a few moments at least, to look around before he was called back to the computer, Nick started to wander. He took in the university degree hanging on the wall in pride of place, a few band posters also littered the walls, along with a string of holiday lights hanging along the curtain rails. Turning slightly, a face down picture frame grabbed at Nick's attention, but as he moved forward his foot nudged something that rolled slightly on contact. Upon closer inspection Nick found himself holding a badly damaged, plastic baby rattle. The rattle itself was broken, the noise maker inside was gone, but other than that it looked fairly new. Nick had to wonder why Astrid O'Field would have a broken rattle in her apartment in which she was the only resident, his second thought was if the Astrid back at the hospital had one just like it back in her own apartment. "Nick?" Judy called suddenly. Not thinking, Nick automatically stowed the rattle in his pocket, out of sight, and strode back over to his partner.

"What's the matter, Carrots, did you forget how to turn a computer on?" he teased her.

"No, Nick, I did not forget how to turn it on, the problem is that it _won't_ turn on," Judy huffed at him. Her foot thumped impatiently against the floor rapidly as she tried to find a way around the problem. "Oh! I know," she beamed as she reopened the file and placed it on the desk before her, so she could pull out her phone.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked patiently.

"Calling our expert in computers," Judy told him brightly.

"Astrid doesn't have a phone to _call_ , Carrots," Nick pointed out exasperated.

"True, but her father does," was Judy's cheerful retort. "Also, I didn't _say_ I was calling Astrid," she added after a beat. Nick felt his eye twitch a little and he sighed, wanting to beat his head against a wall suddenly. The bunny was never going to let this go, was she? "Dr. O'Field, Judy Hopps, we met yesterday at the hospital, yes, right, actually I was wondering if you were there now, uh huh, yes, that would be wonderful, thank you," sometimes Nick worried Judy would give him cavities. She was just so nice to everyone. Except him. She was _rarely_ nice to him.

" _Judy?_ " the rabbit had turned speaker phone on.

"Hi, Astrid, listen we're at the apartment and I've tried to start up the main computer on the desk, but it isn't working," Judy explained with hope in her eyes.

" _Ah, I see, is the power on in the apartment?_ " Astrid asked the most obvious question first. Both officers looked at each other blankly, neither had thought to check the lights, or check for intruders when they entered the apartment for that matter. Thinking fast, Nick hurried over to the fairy lights hanging over the curtain rail and plugged them in. The tiny brightly coloured lights blazed to life, shining some much needed light into the naturally dark apartment.

"Power is on," Judy confirmed to their waiting hospital-bound consultant.

" _Okay, I'm assuming you already checked that the computer is plugged in, though I can't see there being a reason for it to be so, unless the cops there before you unplugged it,_ " Astrid told them patiently.

"First thing I did," was her reassuring answer.

" _Right, in that case you're going to have to go around the back of the desk and have a look at the back of the tower, don't touch anything, just tell me what you see,_ " Astrid instructed them. She sounded a little worried now, though what about remained a mystery. Nick quietly followed Judy around the back of the desk, hands in his pockets, where they could plainly see a section cut out of the wood, in order to get at the back of the tower within. Judy was just kneeling down, phone in hand, to get a better look when Nick saw something curious.

"Ah, sorry, hold on," he halted Judy and crouched down for a better view. "Astrid how often do you move this thing?" he asked curiously.

" _Not since my last upgrade, if parallels stand, should be about three month ago,_ " Astrid replied. " _It's been moved recently hasn't it?_ " she didn't sound surprised. Both Judy and Nick were staring at a dust free track mark left by the tower when it was moved. Very recently.

"Yeah, it has," he heard her sigh heavily when he answered.

" _In that case, pull it out, carefully, and gently pull the top off, just tell me what you see after that,_ " Astrid directed. Nick nodded Judy out of the way and did as bid, struggling a little with the weight of the large tower's unexpected weight. When they finally got the top off neither one of them even knew where to start, the masses of wires, circuit boards and things they weren't even sure of the names of staring back at them.

"This might be a problem," at this admission a small soft chuckle sounded down the phone line.

" _Judy, press the video button on your phone, and save us all some time,_ " Astrid told them. With a relieved sigh Judy did as asked. Astrid's face smiled at them patiently, though Nick had a feeling she was laughing at them on the inside. " _Show me,_ " was all she said. Judy pressed the button to switch to her back camera and pointed it at the mass of computer parts inside the tower that had both their brains hurting a little to look at. There was a long moment of silence during which Astrid's frown became more and more apparent until; " _Crap,_ "

"What's wrong?" Judy turned the phones camera back so Astrid could see them again.

" _They've removed the hard-drive, pretty shoddy work too, looks like they just grabbed it and ripped it right out, fucking ass-hats,_ " she explained darkly.

"Astrid I'm so sorry, I'm sure we can get it back and-" Astrid waved her hand at Judy's apology.

" _Oh I'm not worried about the hard-drive, it's the rough treatment of my baby there that's got me pissed,_ " she explained with a deep frown. She really wasn't all that worried, an odd thing considering someone had just stolen 'her' hard-drive. The mention of 'her baby' made Nick wonder about the rattle again. Did she have a kid? No, it would have been in the file.

"But isn't it bad someone stole-?"

" _Guys, I'm not an idiot, I backup on a couple of spares every week, there should be at least one in the bottom left drawer,_ " Astrid grinned at them.

"Oh," Judy hurried back around to the front of the desk and looked in the specified drawer. And there they were, Astrid's backup hard-drives. Safe and sound. With a relieved sigh Judy pulled one out and eyed it off. "So we just bring this and a laptop back?" she asked with a smile. Astrid nodded on the screen.

" _Yeah, grab two, just in case, and one of the laptops,_ " she told them. Nick moved to grab the closest laptop, a bright pink one under a stack of CD's. _"Except that one!_ " Astrid called quickly before he even touched it. Judy turned to see Nick frozen mid reach staring at the phone in her hand.

"Why? What did you do? Booby-trap it?" he asked eyeing the pink device warily. Astrid snickered for a few moments before answering.

" _No, but if she's anything like me, that's the laptop she keeps all her porn on,_ " her cheeky grin made the fox stare.

"You have an _entire_ laptop dedicated to porn?" he asked in disbelief. Astrid stared back at him like he'd grown a third eye.

" _Doesn't everyone?_ " she asked with a smile and a shrug.

"Okay then, which laptop would _you_ recommend we grab then?" he asked while trying not to keep a straight face. Her eyebrows were telling him she found him hilarious, and Nick decided he would have his revenge. Soon.

" _There should be one of the right side of the couch, black, should have a carry case nearby with a whole lotta wires and stuff in it, throw the hard-drives in there as well,_ " she offered helpfully.

"And you didn't mention that earlier immediately because _why_?" Nick asked loudly as he walked over to the couch.

" _I dunno, maybe I wanted to see if you'd actually try to grab the pink one?_ " he glared back at the phone in his very smug partners hand. " _There's no shame in liking pink, Nick, most guys go for the pink one after all,_ " Astrid continued with a grin as smug as Judy's. Yup. They were trying to kill him.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up _Star-shine_ ," he shot back over his shoulder. He'd been holding on to that one ever since her father had shown up, he was pretty sure it had almost given him a hernia to hold it so long, but he had a feeling it was going to be worth it. However, when a retort hadn't been forthcoming by the time he was done packing up the laptop into it's bag Nick casually glanced back over to Judy. He wished he hadn't. Judy was desperately trying to keep her composure as Astrid glared heatedly at him through the camera, he was pretty sure if looks could kill he'd have been dead the moment the nickname her father had called her was past his lips. Thankfully they couldn't, and Nick had found a small foothold in his new world of witty intelligent bunnies he had been tossed into against his will. "Everything okay there, _Star-shine_?" he asked with a quiet smugness

" _Remind me to kick your arse when I'm allowed out of this bed, fox,_ " Astrid told him darkly. Nick just shrugged and hefted the laptop bag over his shoulder and walked back over to Judy, making sure to stow the two hard-drives she'd picked out from the drawer in one of the pockets.

"Sure, I'll do that, in the mean time, is there anything _else_ you would recommend for us to have a look at while we've got you on-call?" he asked her patiently. He watched curiously as Astrid shifted a little, glancing around the hospital room she was in on the other end of the line uncertainly.

" _Check her bank account,_ " she suggested quietly. She looked uncomfortable and Judy turned her phone back around so she could see the bunny she was speaking to.

"Why would we need to do that?" she asked suspiciously.

" _I-well-_ " Astrid started with a grimace. " _It's complicated,_ " her wince said everything.

"Astrid," Judy put her lecture voice on.

" _Check the account,_ then _you can lecture me,_ " Astrid requested with another wince. Whatever she thought they'd find, well, Nick had a feeling that it wouldn't be good.

"How bad?" he asked her curiously.

" _Depends on your perspective,_ " Astrid admitted. Her shrug told him enough, she'd been paid. Probably a lot. Interesting.

"Got it,"

* * *

 **AN: Okay. So. Chapters are getting longer? Maybe.**

 **Astrid has a lot of laptops, for various reasons. Like her pink porn laptop. Heh. Booby-trapped. Snicker.**

 **I wrote this chapter a few days ago, but I didn't like how I finished it, so I went back over it and tweaked it here and there. Hopefully for the better.**

 **Until next chapter,**

 **RLK**


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